xAI API key not found. Get a key: https://console.x.ai/ Run…

Error message

xAI API key not found. Get a key: https://console.x.ai/
Run 'codewhale auth set --provider xai', set XAI_API_KEY, or add [providers.xai] api_key.
OAuth alternative: run `codewhale auth xai-device` for Codewhale-owned storage and set [providers.xai] auth_mode = "oauth".

What it means

The TUI/config layer refuses to start a session for the xAI provider because no API key (or OAuth credential) can be found. The library checks the provider config entry for xAI OAuth usage and codewhale's OAuth credential store; if neither has tokens and no static API key is configured, it bails with setup instructions. It exists to fail loud at load rather than let a request go out unauthenticated.

Solutions

Run `codewhale auth set --provider xai` and paste an API key from https://console.x.ai/
Set the XAI_API_KEY environment variable in your shell/CI environment
Add `api_key = "xai-..."` under [providers.xai] in ~/.codewhale/config.toml
Or run `codewhale auth xai-device` for OAuth and set auth_mode = "oauth" under [providers.xai]

Example fix

// before (config.toml)
[providers.xai]
// after
[providers.xai]
api_key = "xai-your-key-here"
# or: auth_mode = "oauth"

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

let ok = std::env::var("XAI_API_KEY").map(|v| !v.trim().is_empty()).unwrap_or(false);
if !ok { eprintln!("xAI key missing: run `codewhale auth set --provider xai` or set XAI_API_KEY"); }
else { /* proceed */ }

Try / catch

match result {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("xAI API key not found") => configure_xai_auth_and_retry(),
    other => other?,
}

Prevention

Provision keys via `codewhale auth set` once per machine
Keep XAI_API_KEY in your shell profile or secret manager
In CI, inject the key as a secret env var

When it happens

Trigger: Selecting/using provider `xai` when: no XAI_API_KEY env var, no [providers.xai] api_key in ~/.codewhale/config.toml, no stored OAuth tokens for Xai, and the provider config is not flagged auth_mode="oauth" with existing tokens.

Common situations: Fresh install without `codewhale auth set --provider xai`; CI/container where XAI_API_KEY is unset; user deleted or renamed the config table; switching machines without migrating ~/.codewhale credentials.

Understand the failure class

Background: "API key is required" / "API key not found" / "No API key was set": the missing-api-key error family across 16 libraries — this error's family across 16 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Hmbown/CodeWhale@73e0f67d83 (2026-09-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/33aea36622f54acd. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/tui/src/config.rs:7405

            ApiProvider::Anthropic | ApiProvider::Openmodel => {
                anyhow::bail!("{}", missing_provider_api_key_message(provider)?)
            }
            ApiProvider::OpencodeZen => {
                anyhow::bail!("{}", missing_provider_api_key_message(provider)?)
            }
            ApiProvider::OpenaiCodex => anyhow::bail!(
                "{}",
                crate::oauth::missing_auth_message(crate::oauth::OAuthProvider::Chatgpt)
            ),
            ApiProvider::Xai => {
                // Prefer OAuth guidance when auth_mode requests it or Grok CLI
                // tokens already exist; otherwise show both API-key and OAuth.
                if self
                    .provider_config_for(provider)
                    .is_some_and(provider_config_uses_xai_oauth)
                    || crate::oauth::credentials_present(crate::oauth::OAuthProvider::Xai, self)
                {
                    anyhow::bail!(
                        "{}",
                        crate::oauth::missing_auth_message(crate::oauth::OAuthProvider::Xai)
                    );
                }
                anyhow::bail!(
                    "xAI API key not found. Get a key: https://console.x.ai/\n\
                     Run 'codewhale auth set --provider xai', set XAI_API_KEY, or add \
                     [providers.xai] api_key.\n\
                     OAuth alternative: run `codewhale auth xai-device` for \
                     Codewhale-owned storage and set [providers.xai] auth_mode = \"oauth\"."
                );
            }
            // Self-hosted deployments commonly run without auth on localhost.
            // Return an empty key and let the client omit the Authorization header.
            ApiProvider::Sglang | ApiProvider::Vllm => Ok(String::new()),
            ApiProvider::Ollama
                if provider_route_is_keyless_self_hosted(
                    provider,

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